The land area utilized for livestock production-including rangelands, pasture, and the production of forage crops (corn, soybeans, alfalfa, etc.)-occupies 65-75 percent of the total U.S. acreage, excluding Alaska, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics ( USDA 1997b). Four crops account for approximately eighty percent of all acreage planted per year in this country: hay, corn, soybeans, and wheat. All but wheat are grown primarily to feed livestock (USDA 1997a). In comparison, (and again, not counting Alaska), the amount of land taken up by sprawl and development is slightly more than four percent (USDA 1997a). In the West, urban and suburban landscapes, including fairly low-density subdivisions, occupy an even smaller fraction of land than in the country as a whole. Sprawl, though a serious and usually permanent blight where it occurs, is not the major ecological threat to the natural systems of the West for the very reason that it is-despite the connotation of the term-confined to a limited area.
Polar Bears, Melting Ice Floes, and Us
Famed Polar Explorer Brings Mission, Amazing Photos, to UM
Polar explorer Will Steger, one of the most accomplished Arctic adventurers of all time, has seen and done things that most mortals can’t imagine. In 1986 he led the first dogsled expedition to the North Pole without resupply; in 1988, he traversed Greenland by dogsled, a 1,600-mile trip that was the longest of its kind ever; in 1989 he launched the first dogsled traverse of Antarctica, a seven-month, 3,471-mile journey.
What Steger never expected to see was the end of ice. And what he never expected to be doing is what he’s engaged in right now: a battle to fight climate change and save the planet.
Global warming doubters might refute the scientific studies, Steger says. What they can’t do, he believes, is refute eyewitness reports and photos from someone who’s explored the territory for 45 years. So Steger has taken the injured Arctic on the road.
BULLETIN BOARD
Colorado Rancher Says Wolves May Have Arrived; Welcomes Their Return
This information was provided by the Wildlands Network. NewWest’s bulletin board offers press releases with a wide variety of views and news about the West.
DeBeque, Colorado—A DNA test of scat samples is all that remains before a western Colorado ranch owner knows for sure if wild wolves are present on his land.
Paul R. Vahldiek, Jr., majority shareholder and CEO of The High Lonesome Ranch, a mixed use landscape sprawling across Colorado’s west slope northeast of Grand Junction, awaits results of the DNA test as the final piece of evidence needed to confirm wolf habitation. One of the ranch managers and an expert wildlife tracker have already reported actual sightings of wolves, and positively identified tracks and howling on the vast acreage.
Bull Trout Protection
Opportunity Spawned: New Proposal Protects Bull Trout and Water
On January 13th, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released a new critical habitat designation for bull trout throughout the Northwest, including western Montana. The new draft — offering four-to-six times more protected waters than a previous proposal—includes 21,694 miles of stream habitat and 533,426 acres of reservoirs and lakes in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Nevada.
Protecting and restoring bull trout habitat will help this threatened species recover. It will also improve water quality throughout the Northwest, spur investment in watershed restoration, and help support Montana’s $226 million fishing industry. This designation goes a long ways towards achieving those goals.
In Montana, the proposal includes 3,094 stream miles and 223,762 acres of lakes and reservoirs. The plan covers federal lands, reservoirs and even currently unoccupied habitat necessary to maintaining migration routes between isolated species. The new draft is seen as an improvement over the last two proposals in 2002 and 2005.
Outdoor Column
Oregon Senator Fears Plastic
In a never going to happen, total waste of time innovative idea, an Oregon legislator suggested to ban single-use plastic bags from the state’s checkout stands.
A man who visited Missoula once said: The Earth didn’t know how to make plastic. Could it be the only reason we are here? Could be the answer to our age old philosophical question of why are we here; plastic!
Anyhow, the measure being led by Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, would still allow paper sacks, but is aimed at getting people to use reusable bags.
Outdoor News
Bull Trout Finding Some Western Love
The Obama administration announced Wednesday it wants five western states to limit access and usage of wastersheds to protect the bull trout, a native, wide-ranging fish in the West.
“It means that we’re going to use the scientific recommendations rather than the political recommendations to determine what’s best for critical habitat for bull trout,” said Jack Williams, senior scientist for the conservation group Trout Unlimited.
The bull trout is nothing more than a fish. The spotted owl is nothing more than a winged-eating machine. Does it make sense to pile millions of dollars into protecting these creatures?
If approved, bull trout critical habitat would go from 3,780 to 22,679 stream miles and 110,364 to 533,426 acres of lakes and reservoirs in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Montana. The Forest Service, meanwhile, estimates the increased consultation will increase its workload by 10 to 15 percent during reviews of proposed actions in the Northwest alone. In case you were wondering, that means more jobs and more hours. And yes, more money spent protecting the environment.
By the way, it would come at a cost of between $100 and $140 million over the next 20 years, the government said.
